Downtown Great Falls leaders said they’re pleased with the progress of downtown improvement and talked about future plans during the second annual meeting Wednesday of the Downtown Development Partnership.

Coalition members were tickled at the big show of support and favorable City Commission action the night before approving a tax abatement plan that will help investors redevelop the Rocky Mountain Building that was gutted in a 2009 fire into commercial and retail space.

Group president Sheila Rice said as recently as six months ago, downtown supporters ignored the site or viewed it as an eyesore, but now believe it can be another “game changer” that creates momentum for other improvements.

“Downtown Great Falls is in an ascendency,” said Rice, also executive director of NeighborWorks, which will build a 12-plex apartment complex at 1201 1st Ave. S. “We’re moving forward. Things are happening.”

She also likened downtown to a jet liner “that’s been on a long runway and is starting to pick up speed for takeoff.”

Continuing efforts will include more redevelopment of old builidngs for commercial and residential use and better signs connecting visitors to downtown, the riverfront, parks and museums, the leaders said.

Rice led a PowerPoint presentation that highlighted several downtown accomplishments, including:

• City government support through a downtown master plan, efforts to tie downtown together with the riverfront with better “way finder” signs and financial support through extension of a tax increment district.

• A first “game changer,” redevelopment of Arvon Block, where the Celtic Cowboy Pub & Restaurant has been built and a hotel is planned. Rice credited historic preservation officer Ellen Sievert with attracting investors by getting a grant to draw up architect renderings of what the restored building could become. That showed redeveloping downtown can be profitable, she said.

• More than 150 new downtown employees brought in during the last year with three building restorations, including the Easter Seals Good Will Center, Pacific Steel and Recycling office building and the Front Brewery bottling operation.

• A big increase in construction of both upscale and medium-priced downtown apartments and condominiums. Rice praised developer Gary Hackett for building two projects, including rebuilding his Hastings building, which also was damaged in the fire that gutted the Rocky Mountain Building. Hackett could have taken his settlement elsewhere, but wanted to invest downtown, she said.

• Several unique stores, more than 30 restaurants, connection to Gibson Park, swimming pools, the river front and popular events such as First Friday Art Walk, Alive@5, the Christmas Stroll and parades.

• Increased public safety through a police officer dedicated to the downtown and surrounding neighborhoods, business and neighborhood watch programs and a volunteer police group that has helped tow away 700 abandoned cars. In addition, Joan Redeen with the Downtown Great Falls Association hires workers to get rid of downtown graffiti and vandalism within 24 hours, with the building owners’ permission.

“Downtown feels a lot safer and more comfortable,” Rice said.

Downtown volunteers put in close to 6,000 hours in the first half of 2014 on these events, she said, thanking them for “their passion, their hard work and their involvement.”

“With all the different downtown and civic groups working together, with one common goal, we can develop a better, even more vibrant downtown,” Rice said.